This in-person session will explore the barriers and enablers of enhanced regional cooperation on adaptation to manage the cascading impacts of climate change. We will build collective learning on what cascading climate risks are, how they affect mountainous regions such as the Hindu Kush Himalaya (HKH), and the forms of regional cooperation that could present resilience-building solutions.
ICIMOD will share state-of-the-art research on cascading climate risks in the HKH and the benefits of enhanced regional cooperation to manage them. We will draw out instruments that have strengthened the effectiveness of regional cooperation mechanisms in other mountainous regions (through Adaptation at Altitude) and through the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (via the Asia Development Bank). We will engender discussion on some of the barriers to stronger regional cooperation on adaptation in the HKH (political, economic, social, technical) and how we can scale solutions to such challenges.
We will also hear reflections from government representatives in the HKH region (including representatives from Bhutan and Nepal) on the opportunities they see for transboundary adaptation and the forms of support and resources that would be required. And we will end the session with a broader debate on how we can create an enabling environment (in governance and policy) for transformative adaptation, and what COP28 – including the framework on the Global Goal on Adaptation – must deliver to achieve it.
